SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Water Polo

Serra produces record-setting season

By Phillip Brents

Posted Nov. 8, 2002

While the City Conference's Western League may be regarded as the

San Diego Section's toughest league -- from top to bottom -- the City Conference's Eastern League is starting to make some waves of its own. Though by no means a tsunami, the water has definitely parted this season at times for such Eastern League powers as Patrick Henry, Clairemont and ... drum roll, please, now Serra.

The Conquistadors raised their season record to 17-9 following a 14-7 non-league victory against Eastlake on a wet Friday evening at the Southwestern College pool. The 17 wins are a school record in a program in just its fifth season. Last year, Serra won just four games.

Hard work and dedication in this case proved to be the fundamental turnaround, according to Conquistadors head coach John Pisapia.

"We worked hard in the summer. Five players played with Shores. The rest either played with our club team or the rec club team. The dedication from this group is unbelievable," Pisapia explained.

Serra only looks to get better in coming seasons. The Conquistadors sport just three seniors on this year's squad.

"Our goal was to make CIF this year. It looks like we're going to do that," Pisapia added.

Pisapia and his team will find out at Monday's divisional seeding meeting.

League champions are assured automatic entry in either the Division I or Division II playoffs. Patrick Henry secure that honor in Eastern League play, followed by runner-up Clairemont and third-place Serra. Both Clairemont and Serra will be bidding for at-large berths. But with a 3-2 record at the San Diego Open tournament, the Conquistadors proved they could compete with the better teams in the section.

"We swam them to death at the beginning of the season. In the end, it's paying off. We're in the best shape that we've ever been in. I think that's why our wins are coming now because we're in better shape than the other teams," Pisapia said.

In scoring its school record 17th win, junior Trevor Alfstad scored three first-period goals and senior Clay Parker added one goal to erase an early 1-0 Eastlake lead. Serra went on to build a 7-3 lead before the Titans narrowed the score to 7-5 at halftime on Nik Clair-Williams and Steve Sanchez's second goals of the game. However, the Conquistadors -- keying off their tight defensive play and quick to react swimming ability -- scored four of the five goals in the third period to put some distance between themselves and Eastlake with an 11-6 lead.

The Titans responded with some great defense of their own -- holding Serra off the scoreboard until 2:59 remained in the game. But the Eastlake rally came too late as the teams each traded two goals in the final period for a 14-7 final score.

Parker led the Conquistadors with four goals, followed by senior Nick Costello with three goals to match Alfstad. Sophomore Bryan Sauls scored two goals while junior Bryce Rawers and sophomore Kevin Sommer each contributed one goal. Rawers entered the game as the team's leading scorer.

Junior goalie Matt Stevens had a game-high 13 saves.

"Our defense is our main asset. We play very tight and we have a variety of set plays," Pisapia said.

Clair-Williams, Sanchez and James Laxson all finished with two goals for Eastlake, which received one goal from fellow senior Alex Howell. Laxson's first goal closed the Titans' deficit to 4-3 with 5:54 to play in the second period but the hosts could not maintain the momentum. Parker scored just nine seconds later to up the Serra lead to 5-3 and the Conquistadors followed with two more unanswered goals -- one each by Costello and Rawers -- to take a four-goal lead.

Sommer's goal made it 8-5 to open the third period. Laxson's second goal of the game cut the Serra lead to 8-6 with 4:35 to play in the quarter but the Conquistadors -- playing as a cohesive unit -- retaliated with three consecutive goals, including two by Sauls, to end the period with a five goal lead.

Clair-Williams upped his four-year career total to 354 goals (by best estimates).

In the junior varsity game, Serra defeated Eastlake 9-7 as Brandon Moss tallied five goals and Josh Valentine and Mike Aposporus both scored two goals. The Conquistadors finished the season as Eastern League JV champions following sweeps against both Patrick Henry and Clairemont.